


KagaKuro Month: 2014

by sinamour



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-28
Updated: 2015-01-28
Packaged: 2018-03-09 10:18:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3245999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinamour/pseuds/sinamour
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Drabbles from KagaKuro Month 2014 that I didn't get to upload because I was way behind time. Prompts that were given for the occasion are as follows:<br/>✓ Week 1 (11-15.October): SEASONAL/AUTUMN + Field trip<br/>✓ Week 2 (16-20.October): AU + Family <br/>✓ Week 3 (21-25.October): 3rd POV/femslash + Fears/Expectations<br/>✓ Week 4 (26-30.October): Future + Silence/Noise<br/>✓ Week 5 (31.October-4.November): Free time/Hobbies + Halloween<br/>✓ Week 6 (5-9.November): Transformation/metamorphosis + Assignment</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Autumn/Field trip

Taiga wouldn’t consider himself particularly mature or compassionate or attentive – he’s only a fourteen-year-old with an unhealthy basketball obsession, fuelled by his elder brother and their crazy teacher – but the little baby boy next door appears to think otherwise. Tiny and tottery and almost too delicate to hold – Taiga is deathly afraid that he’ll break the child if he so much as prods at the wrong place – Tetsuya has made him his unofficial big brother on their first meeting itself.

They’d met at the receptionist lobby, when Taiga was trudging home from an exceptionally muddy, rough-and-tumble game with a group of his friends (more like brawl, from the way that they had been knocking each other’s head) – filthy, grimy, caked with wet soil. The front desk help had given him a dirty glare, and he was in the middle of returning it when he tripped over what he thought was thin air.

Except it wasn’t because there was a startled sob and a pair of surprised blue eyes sprawled on its back beneath Taiga when he picked himself up – an actual child swaddled in an oversized hoodie and pants. _Are you okay_ was what he wanted to ask, but “Where the hell did you come out from?!” was what came out of his mouth instead.

Before the boy could reply, though, Taiga picked him up and began dusting him off, an apology distinct in every brush that he made against the boy’s shirt and hair. “Why are you here alone? Where are your parents? Little boys shouldn’t wander around alone.”

“I know you,” the child had enthused instead, his voice quiet and curious, and Taiga was struck by how clear his eyes were.

“Well, I don’t, so you shouldn’t speak to strangers like me,” he returned almost caustically to distract himself, and then contradicted himself by taking the boy by hand and leading him to a quieter corner of the room.

“Papa knows you, though,” the boy countered and gripped Taiga’s hand tighter, already better at this rational game than Taiga even at his younger age. “He says that you’re a very nice boy.”

“…What?” Taiga stopped in his tracks, three parts surprised and one part cautious.

He will find out, later, about Kuroko-san, the nice neighbour who lives in the unit to his family’s left; but that was how Taiga began his relationship with Tetsuya: thinking that he was the son of a suspicious person. By the time he cleared the air with Tetsuya’s parents, the boy is already attached to him, a constant shadow to the reluctant Taiga.

Ever since then, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings have become Taiga-Tetsuya time – where either Tetsuya will toddle over next door and wait for Taiga to open the door for him, or Taiga will walk over to the Kuroko unit and pick the child up to join him and his friends for a basketball session. He had initially been worried about Tatsuya and Alex being uncomfortable with the new arrangement to their sessions, but it was quickly brushed off the moment he saw them drop everything to fawn over Tetsuya – and that’s the way it has ever been since then.

“So? What did Alex teach you today when I was training with Tatsuya?” Taiga asks as was his usual, tightening his hold on the child’s fingers as they approach an intersection. The four of them had developed a rotational routine that made sure Tetsuya is always accompanied by one of them, and today, it had been Alex’s turn.

Tetsuya hums for a moment, ambling along obediently before he replies, “Alex-chan told me to watch the both of you play.”

“…But you do that all the time,” Taiga frowns, “why the hell would she ask you to do that?” And then he claps a hand to his mouth in dismay while Tetsuya watches impassively. “Pretend you didn’t hear that, okay? Tatsuya will kill me.”

“What is ‘hell’?”

“Are you doing this on purpose?! That’s what I said – pretend you didn’t hear that!”

“Didn’t hear what?”

“Argh!” Taiga bends and hauls the child into a headlock then, tugging the boy along as the cars stop for the pedestrians. “Didn’t your parents teach you to respect your elders properly?!”

“Mmmmm,” the boy purrs back, bouncing pleasantly in Taiga’s hold, and then perking once Taiga sets him back onto his feet on the other side of the street. “‘ga-chan?”

“What,” his companion hitches his bag up his shoulder, automatically reaching down to hold Tetsuya’s finger as they began to go against the pedestrian traffic on the walk way. “Don’t leggo of my hand, okay?”

“Okay,” Tetsuya replies dutifully, and then continues, “‘ga-chan, bring me to the zoo?”

“What?” Taiga asks distractedly, doing his best to manoeuvre them around an exceptionally huge bulk of mass that ambled stubbornly slow in their way. It’s difficult, because there is also a whole crowd of adults that kept sidestepping them from the side, forcing the two pint-sized children to follow in place.

“Zoo, ‘ga-chan.”

“Yeah, su – wait, what?” Taiga jerks to a stop abruptly, nearly toppling the gangly guy following them. He stares at Tetsuya for a while, confused, then stoops down to hike the child up against him and push their way to a safer, less congested corner. “Where did this come from?”

“Alex-chan said –”

“Alex. Of course it’s Alex. How can I not have guessed.”

“‘ga-chan, there are _penguins_ ,” Tetsuya says, voice hushed like he can’t believe his own ears – like there is a whole world of magic contained in that one word. Taiga wants to laugh at the way the boy’s eyes were widened with wonder, but Tetsuya can be pretty touchy when he wants to be, so Taiga settles for no more than just a chortle.

“Penguins, huh?” he makes another move to hike his bag up one shoulder, pauses for a moment, and then decided that he really isn’t cut out for holding back from teasing the boy. “Those fat birds that keep falling over?”

“Not fat,” Tetsuya frowned, having learnt the new word after Taiga poked at the burgeoning belly of Tatsuya’s family cat and gotten scratched (coincidentally, he also learnt the word ‘fuck’ then).

“Is that so?” Taiga grins, and tugs the child closer to him after a woman’s handbag nearly grazes the back of his head. “I think they are, all fat and round and clumsy. Remember those pictures I showed you of them tripping over their own feet?”

“Like ‘ga-chan,” Tetsuya snaps, his lower lip slightly pursed in displeasure, tipping his head lower.

“Oy!”

“‘ga-chan started it.”

“How about if I don’t bring you after all?” Taiga says huffily in response, and nearly laughs when Tetsuya perks up suspiciously. It’s clear that the boy isn’t sure to trust him or not because Taiga has a mean streak that he can’t help when teasing Tetsuya. The child had sampled his first taste of unfairness at Taiga’s hand, and he is justified in being doubtful of the older boy when something seems too good to be true.

“‘ga-chan’s lying, isn’t he?” Tetsuya queries with furrowed brows, ducking the stray bag that nearly knocked into the back of his head.

“It’s true. I’m not lying,” Taiga grins fondly, ruffling the boy’s hair, indulgent, “It’s a promise.”

It was their safe word because as playful as Taiga can sometimes be, he’s never broken a promise to Tetsuya before, and there is an assurance in the declaration. So when Taiga reaches for little fingers to tug him back out into the crowd, Tetsuya follows willingly, pleased with the reassurance.

A gust of wind blows then, and the child presses himself closer into Taiga’s side.

“Mmcold,” he shrinks deeper into his jacket even as Taiga reaches over to turn up the collars for him.

“It’s nearly autumn, huh?”

Tetsuya tucks his nose deeper and thinks about penguins, and how warm ‘ga-chan can be. 


	2. AU/Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Drabbles from KagaKuro Month 2014 that I didn't get to upload because I was way behind time. Prompts that were given for the occasion are as follows:  
> ✓ Week 1 (11-15.October): SEASONAL/AUTUMN + Field trip  
> ✓ Week 2 (16-20.October): AU + Family  
> ✓ Week 3 (21-25.October): 3rd POV/femslash + Fears/Expectations  
> ✓ Week 4 (26-30.October): Future + Silence/Noise  
> ✓ Week 5 (31.October-4.November): Free time/Hobbies + Halloween  
> ✓ Week 6 (5-9.November): Transformation/metamorphosis + Assignment

Tetsuya is twenty when he steps onto American soil for the first time, uncharacteristically meek as he clutches at Taiga’s finger, led out of the airport crowd – all twice his size, all two heads taller than him – into the Los Angeles sun. It blinds him, this foreign sun that glares into his sight from a different angle, with a different degree of brightness and dazzle, at a whole other level of brilliance – and Tetsuya would have stumbled if it weren’t for Taiga’s steady grip on his hand.

He feels, too, the difference in the temperature – warmer and drier than Japan – and it parches his lips the way sponge sucks moisture off a plate. It puts him out of sorts, his head reeling from the arid heatwave that radiates from the hot pavement and tar; but he thinks that he wouldn’t mind the discomfort if it means seeing Taiga that happy and excited.

Because he is: there is a relaxed slouch to the line of his shoulders that Tetsuya has never seen before in Japan, and an easy confidence in his movement that speaks of familiarity and certainty.

It makes Tetsuya question, uneasy, if Taiga has ever been comfortable in Japan, always the one unable to fit in with the crowd and called out for his foreignness; but when he recalls the way his partner had laughed – bumped fist with him – ate and talked and walked the parks – struggledstrovelabouredcriedtriumphedcelebrated

he is put at ease again because there’s no way that could be fake.

There is no way that _that_ could be a lie because Tetsuya had seen-felt-heard-tasted the sincerity of everything that they had shared together, and Taiga is _horrible_ at lying anyway.

“Well, that was relatively painless,” Taiga says the moment they tore their way out of the throng of people, hitching his backpack up higher up his shoulder and twisting around to flash a grin at Tetsuya.

“Yes. I agree. I didn’t get squashed,” Tetsuya answers, solemnly cheeky in the way he stares back up at Taiga, and then breaking into a small, satisfied grin when his partner throws his head back and laughs a loud guffaw.

“You little shit – worst joke in the world, okay,” Taiga snorted, gripping Tetsuya’s head in a punishing grasp before tugging him forward into a loose embrace and burying a kiss into his hair. When he releases the younger boy after that, it is with a soft look – affectionate and contented: contented to be home – to have Tetsuya, here, by him – to be able to share all these with his most precious person; and it makes Tetsuya fall in love with his boyfriend all over again.

He hates it when that happens – because it makes his heart beat twice faster, makes his head reel with the knowledge that if Taiga were to disappear from his life now, he would be devastated – because it reminds him of how dependent he has become on another person now. But when Taiga twists and manhandles him into cuddle and a kiss, he melts and thinks that maybe it isn’t so bad to be reliant sometimes after all.

“Come on, then. I think my dad is already waiting for us out at the terminal. He’s been very excited about today – been calling me non-stop for the past few weeks, y’know.”

And Tetsuya takes three steps faster forward, stops, twists back around, and squats down with open arms and a smile. “That’s enough, Daiki. Mr Crayfish is going home to rest, and so must you. Let’s go meet your grandpa, okay?”

“Noooooooooo, ‘wan Mr Kreeeeeiii!” Daiki – a solid bulk of five-year-old; hyperactive, energetic, and animated – screams back, running around to hide behind the legs of an oversized, orange crayfish mascot that tottered and wobbled with the way the boy was tugging at one of its extended arms. Daiki had been extremely restless throughout their flight from Japan, and if it hadn’t been for Tetsuya’s patience and perseverance, Taiga was sure that he would have flushed the boy straight down the plane’s toilet bowl.

“Oy, get back here, you brat! Don’t make me come after you!”

“’ou’re old! ‘ou won’t catch me!”

“What the –” Taiga promptly erupts into a mortified shade of red when the other strolling patrons around them chuckle in amusement, sending him understanding nods – _yeaaaah I feel your agony, man – growing kids are a pain in the ass sometimes_.

Except most of these people don’t have a Tetsuya in their life, and Taiga is lucky like that – so he wisely took a step back and let his decidedly more capable partner deal with the problem child, edging as far back as he can.

“Oh dear, do you hear that, Daiki?” Tetsuya steps forward, somehow managing to sound concerned even as he kept a particularly blank face. Having known the boy for more than seven years, Taiga knows to beware when Tetsuya puts on that kind of look, but Daiki doesn’t, so the boy peeks out suspiciously and asks, guarded, “What.”

Tetsuya tips his head a little to the left and hums. “This can’t be. You’re standing right next to Mr Crayfish. Can’t you hear it?”

Daiki hesitates, but then steps out a little and looks to the direction where Tetsuya is slanting his ear towards, and then turns back towards Tetsuya with narrowed eyes. “Wha’chu hearing?”

But Tetsuya only continues to hum, twisting his head a little as if he’s trying to get a clearer sound. Taiga thinks it’s a smart move, because in the few months that they’ve spent with Daiki since they took him home from the orphanage, they found out that he absolutely hates being ignored –

And as expected, the boy questions demandingly, stomping his feet insistently, “Tetsu!! Wha’chu hearing?!”

Tetsuya turns to him with the most emotionless compassionate look ever. “I think I hear Mr Crayfish’s grandfather crying for him to come home, and your grandpapa too,” he intones, and almost as an afterthought, adds two sniffs to the end of his sentence.

“Tetsu lying!”

“No, I’m not. Taiga hears it too, doesn’t he?”

It is almost funny how Taiga stiffens when two pairs of eyes swivel instantly towards him. “Uh. Y-yeah. I hear it,” and then quickly adds, when Tetsuya furrows his brow at him, “Very clearly in fact. My dad’s super sad ‘cuz you’d prefer to go back with Cray-man instead of meeting him.”

“Crayfish, Taiga.”

Taiga backpedals quickly and corrects himself. “Right. Crayfish.”

And then Tetsuya turns back to the front to see the boy watching them judgementally. “Taiga lying too,” he decided after a moment, crossing his arms conclusively, but still keeping a careful eye on Tetsuya because he still believes that Tetsuya is the saintly, angelic one of them – the one who won’t lie.

Taiga can’t wait for the day when the boy discovers that Tetsuya is, in fact, more cunning than the foxiest fox in the world.

But at this point, all he wants is to strangle the boy.

Tetsuya, on the other hand, only chuckles nonchalantly and motions towards the floundering mascot. “Okay, then ask Mr Crayfish as well. Mr Crayfish won’t lie to you, right?”

Daiki snaps the suggestion up the way puppies snap up snacks, and instantly flicks his gaze up expectantly upwards – except he finds no support there either, because Mr Crayfish nods very emphatically as well, one arm waving vaguely at a faraway spot, and then pretends to pull away to head towards the call.

“See? You won’t want Mr Crayfish to be sad, right?” Tetsuya approaches them and then quickly scoops the crestfallen boy into his arms, letting the poor mascot scramble his way out of the scene. When Daiki doesn’t respond, merely tucks his face into Tetsuya’s shoulder dejectedly, Tetsuya puts his finger to the boy’s chin and raises his head.

“Is that the face that you want to greet grandpapa with, Daiki? After all the wonderful times that we shared with him over our Hangout videos?” Tetsuya coaxes, kissing the boy’s temple and holding him closer. Migrating isn’t an easy process, especially for a child as young as Daiki, but the boy has been relatively cooperative so far, and Tetsuya was tremendously proud of him.

“Besides, remember what grandpapa promised?” Tetsuya whispered into his ear, pumping enthusiasm into the boy with an excited murmur, “Little Nigou’s waiting for us, y’know? Imagine the fun that we can have with Taiga.”

The cackle that Daiki emits then was especially praiseworthy, and it sends a shiver up Taiga’s spine as he watched his little family bump foreheads together conspiratorially, grinning at each other – then turning with wicked eyes at him.

What a way to start their life as an official little family together.


	3. Fears/Expectations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Drabbles from KagaKuro Month 2014 that I didn't get to upload because I was way behind time. Prompts that were given for the occasion are as follows:  
> ✓ Week 1 (11-15.October): SEASONAL/AUTUMN + Field trip  
> ✓ Week 2 (16-20.October): AU + Family   
> ✓ Week 3 (21-25.October): 3rd POV/femslash + Fears/Expectations  
> ✓ Week 4 (26-30.October): Future + Silence/Noise  
> ✓ Week 5 (31.October-4.November): Free time/Hobbies + Halloween  
> ✓ Week 6 (5-9.November): Transformation/metamorphosis + Assignment

When they started calling him the Phantom Sixth Man in Teikou – first year, third term; amidst a scented flurry of early blossoms, amongst laughter and fistbumps and noogies – Tetsuya knew pride for the first time. For someone as inconspicuous as himself, Tetsuya has never been in the limelight, and experiencing it for the first time was not something that he could describe beyond being so happy that his heart felt horribly full and uncontainable.

( _Oh…so this is how it feels to be acknowledged – to be needed…_ )

The moniker didn’t just acknowledge his presence in the game, but also his worth – and that is why he can easily brush off the instances where photographers and interviewers forgot about him. As long as there remains whispers of the Phantom Sixth Man, Tetsuya knows that he’s got some value in the arena. Not even the fallout with the Generation of Miracles at the end of their time together could take that away from him: it was the proof of his sweat, blood, and time. The obligations that came with the title is heavy, but he saw no reason to fear it.

After all, Tetsuya _knew_ the Phantom Sixth Man inside out – created him, nurtured him, refined him; made him the elusive, enigmatic, larger-than-life character that he is – there was no part of the persona that he did not know.

And yet, Tetsuya found himself quivering, heart skipping two and a half beats when Teppei slung an arm around him one night – stinking and spent and exultant from a particularly demanding training session, but also fond and brotherly and affectionate – and the entire team cheered to “Seirin’s trump card – the ace of our ace – our – oh shit, Hyuuga, stop killing Izuki-pun!” The noises were loud and obnoxious, but so full of trust and faith that Tetsuya had to take a moment to hide it out in the toilet, shaking and unsure about what to do with this amount of conviction and expectation invested in him.

( _This isn’t even normal, is it – how can you trust so much; how can you give so much of yourself to me; how can you not be afraid of me failing your dreams?_ )

And he drowned even more when Taiga watched him with the steadiest eyes, the gladdest smile; and whispered into his ear, quiet and pleased and warm, “‘Ace of our ace’ is about right. Think you can handle it?”

Tetsuya wanted to say no – _no,_ I don’t think I can, but how do you reject earnest promises and eager sincerity when it’s right _there_ – grasping you by the fingers, dropping gentle kisses against your ear, promising forever and ever? So he squared his shoulders, heaved a determined breath, and hooked his fingers around larger ones with the clearest eyes possible, and replied, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

It didn’t matter that he felt a tingle of trepidation run up his spine –

Didn’t matter that he felt his insides shift with distress –

Didn’t matter that he felt apprehension chill his veins –

If Taiga tells him that this is excitement that he’s feeling – not fear – then he’ll believe his light. Continuous victory since middle school has destroyed his sense of excitement, and he must depend on Taiga to remind him.

And besides, who better to teach him about carrying the team’s will and expectations than the ace of Seirin?


	4. Future/Silence/Noise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Drabbles from KagaKuro Month 2014 that I didn't get to upload because I was way behind time. Prompts that were given for the occasion are as follows:  
> ✓ Week 1 (11-15.October): SEASONAL/AUTUMN + Field trip  
> ✓ Week 2 (16-20.October): AU + Family   
> ✓ Week 3 (21-25.October): 3rd POV/femslash + Fears/Expectations  
> ✓ Week 4 (26-30.October): Future + Silence/Noise  
> ✓ Week 5 (31.October-4.November): Free time/Hobbies + Halloween  
> ✓ Week 6 (5-9.November): Transformation/metamorphosis + Assignment

On most Sundays, it’s usually Taiga who wakes up first – warm, crusty-eyed, and burrito-ed in blankets and embraces at eight thirty in the morning – but he rarely gets out of bed until it’s well after twelve. It’s rest day, and morning jogs can go to hell because trainings and serious businesses belong to Mondays to Fridays, and sometimes even Saturdays. Sundays are for replenishing on his Tetsuya time – for lazy snuggling and hugging and kissing, pressing and cuddling his boyfriend’s face against the side of Taiga’s neck so that he can feel the boy’s quiet breath and steady heartbeat.

(And Taiga won’t say it, but they’re good reminders that Tetsuya’s here and solid and real – because sometimes he’s so quiet, so faint, that Taiga cannot be sure if he exists)

And so Taiga spends the next four hours or so slipping in and out of a doze, carding languid fingers through feathery hair, shifting only every once in a while to follow Tetsuya’s sleeping hug. It worsens Tetsuya’s already-horrible bedhead, but Taiga does it anyway because he knows that for all of the boy’s protest against people patting or ruffling his hair, Tetsuya secretly finds comfort in the motions against his scalp. It lulls him to sleep the way lullabies do babies – the way kittens succumbs during ear scratches.

Taiga won’t call him out on his bluff because he loves the boy too much – because it’s adorable to watch him fight against his inherent nature, but also because there really isn’t any need to. Taiga knows that Tetsuya knows that he knows, and there is nothing more satisfying than having the quiet upperhand where Tetsuya is forced to concede when Taiga shoots him a knowing look each time Tetsuya balks against being petted.

While Taiga has a pretty routine morning, Tetsuya is – surprisingly – the less habitual one. Taiga can never tell what time Tetsuya wants to wake, realising it only when he emerges from his doze to find wide blue eyes peering and blinking playfully into his face. On days like these, Taiga grins and presses a kiss to Tetsuya’s forehead, then pinching the tips of his fingers together to touch it to his forehead, palms facing outward, before moving it in a saluting gesture.

_Hello_.

The sign is accurate with practice, but casual with sleep and grogginess; it’s all limber and warm – and Taiga drowns in the intimacy that they share between them.

More often than not, Tetsuya signs back, but sometimes, he runs a single impish finger around Taiga’s nipple, then scrawls his reply drily onto muscled abdomen.

_Hello._

_Good morning._

_How’re you doing?_

These are good days – days where Taiga knows that there will be smiles and laughter; even when Tetsuya can’t hear them anymore, can’t vocalise any longer, he can still scoff the cynical, sarcastic huff that is his trademark, and Taiga is thankful for every little bit of Tetsuya that he can salvage.

But on other days, he catches Tetsuya staring – pensive, forlorn, faraway – at him – at the view outside their bedroom window – at the cracks on their ceiling –

(And it frightens Taiga also when Tetsuya gets that kind of look in his eyes. Taiga likes to think that his boyfriend is more than resilient and optimistic enough to get through everything that life has thrown at him, but even he is realistic enough to know that even the most positive person has dark and darker thoughts every now and then)

Taiga has learnt to let Tetsuya return in his own time whenever this happens, swallowing the hard knot of disquiet with the intense faith that he has in his partner. He has never been all that patient as a person, but even the most hot-headed, impulsive person can learn to accommodate for the sake of someone cherished.

He spends this time in silence, cultivating perseverance and peace in every comforting stroke that he brushes down Tetsuya’s naked back, sweeping over every bump and every ridge of pale skin. He’s not sure about the other boy, but the sound of skin rubbing against skin lulls him into an easy pace, intimate and loving – it is the sound of worshipping, and Taiga thinks that he can never get enough of it. So he fills the pockets of silence with his roving fingers.

(It falls upon Taiga these days – to fill the house with noise and music these days, now that Tetsuya can’t – but Taiga doesn’t find it particularly distressing because even from before, their relationship have always been more about silence and touches: a handhold here, a noogie there, a hug everywhere)

Most days, Tetsuya knows to return to him, a little ruffled but still clear-eyed and clear-headed; but sometimes, Taiga has to play keeper and drag his boyfriend back with an insistent kiss on stubborn lips.

(And these are the times that scare Taiga the most because it feels like Tetsuya doesn’t belong to him anymore; like Taiga has to fight through emotional bogs and swamps to retrieve him – but he swears to himself that he will do it, as many times as it takes, to keep the boy with him)

When that happens, he catches still fingers – squeezes them in his grip – a pulse, two pulses; and then signs at Tetsuya’s blank, impassive gaze, urgent and intimate: _Hey. Hey, I’m here. It’s okay. You’re okay._ Taiga can say this because he knows the web that his partner is caught in when this happens – can almost feel the pain that had slammed into Tetsuya bodily, the smoke that had choked and chained him then.

He was the one who’d found Tetsuya and pulled him out of it all – unresponsive, unbreathing, unmoving; and he alone, between the both of them, knew how close to death Tetsuya had been. He was the one who watched the blood run down Tetsuya’s pale face in rivulets – who single-handedly heaved the pillar off his boyfriend in the midst of smoke and fire, strengthened by terror – who gave every bit of air and aid to Tetsuya just so he could make it to the hospital; but even then, Tetsuya had only hung onto life by a thread, spending several unconscious months in the ICU as Taiga kept faithful vigil by his bedside.

For all that, Taiga thinks that he has the right to make Tetsuya that promise – to mean something when he says that it’ll all be okay. There’s weight to his words – because he’s seen the worst, and he’s been there, from start to end – and hopes that Tetsuya responds to his reassurance.

And that is why Taiga never wavers when he signs adamantly, unrelentingly pressing his fingers against pale skin: _Your place is here and now – with me and no one else._


	5. Halloween

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Drabbles from KagaKuro Month 2014 that I didn't get to upload because I was way behind time. Prompts that were given for the occasion are as follows:  
> ✓ Week 1 (11-15.October): SEASONAL/AUTUMN + Field trip  
> ✓ Week 2 (16-20.October): AU + Family   
> ✓ Week 3 (21-25.October): 3rd POV/femslash + Fears/Expectations  
> ✓ Week 4 (26-30.October): Future + Silence/Noise  
> ✓ Week 5 (31.October-4.November): Free time/Hobbies + Halloween  
> ✓ Week 6 (5-9.November): Transformation/metamorphosis + Assignment

“Kuroko,” Kagami sighs, simultaneously fond and exasperated, slouching on the couch as he side-eyes the channel that they’d settled on for the night. It’s _Joe’s Apartment_ – not the best horror movie to watch on Halloween considering the fact that it is more comedic than anything else, but it’s the only thing that does not make Kagami shit his pants. He’s thankful that Kuroko is willing to let him have his way, but – there’s (always) a catch to it.

“Kuroko,” he tries again, reaching over to hook his fingers into the loop of Kuroko’s jeans and tugging lightly, “Come on.”

“What,” Kuroko replies waspishly, head whipping around with such vengeance that Kagami finds himself getting somewhat worried for the boy’s neck. It’s tempered, though, by the uncharacteristically petulant look on Kuroko’s face, stubborn and sulky and sullen – and it makes Kagami want to laugh. He does – crack a small smile, but immediately regrets it when Kuroko narrows the iciest stare just yet at him.

“Aww, come on,” Kagami throws his head back and shuffles forward to tug his partner into his lap, pressing coaxing kisses against the back of his ear and neck, slowly nibbling towards his shoulder. It’s Kuroko’s sensitive spot – the one that Kagami targets whenever he wants Kuroko quivering, trembling, and panting in minutes; but when even that doesn’t work, Kagami knows that his boyfriend is genuinely, honest-to-God upset.

He heaves a sigh then, properly turning Kuroko around to look into his eyes. There’s hurt and disappointment that Kagami had missed before because he’d found the circumstance so funny that he laughed before he cared.

“Baby, it’s really not a big deal, you know,” he begins gently, hands coming up to clutch at baby-soft cheeks before Kuroko can spite him back. Kuroko can rarely overpower Kagami physically (without tricks and traps, anyway), but words are his forte. Kagami has seen his usually quiet, gentle boyfriend send the most outspoken debater in their class out of the room in tears in no more than ten sentences. “I’m not sweeping it under the carpet – not saying that it’s unimportant, but this really shouldn’t affect you this much.”

Kuroko doesn’t reply, merely sulks that bit more, and looks away; but Kagami doesn’t let up. “You get to celebrate with the kids at the day care, don’t you? So even if this doesn’t work out, you still get to experience it properly.”

“Yes, but it’s my first one in America, and I want to do it properly,” Kuroko insists, words a little mushed because Kagami still wouldn’t let go of his face; and he squirms when Kagami leans forward to press another kiss against his nose and mouth.

“You silly, silly little thing,” Kagami huffs fondly, chuckling into the space between them, and then eases backwards when the brash sound of the bell rings out, loud and clear and garish amidst their comfort. The way Kuroko perks up to snatch the packet of candy from their table is amusing, and Kagami leans back to watch as his boyfriend – for once, as controlled as a puppy – scurries over to their door with anticipation before pausing.

In the meantime, the bell rings another fifty-six hundred times, short and impatient.

“Well, go on?” Kagami urges after a while, raising an eyebrow expectantly, and then rolling his eyes when Kuroko shushes him.

“I need to prepare myself first,” Kuroko gripes back, gripping his packet of candy nervously. He takes two calming breaths after that, watching Kagami out of the corner of his eyes to make sure that his boyfriend isn’t secretly laughing at him, and then opens the door as carefully as one would open the cover of a crate of explosives.

Kagami hears the customary “TRICK OR TREAAAAAAT!!” and prays to all the gods above that nothing goes wrong this time because he really doesn’t want to deal with an upset Kuroko – except, of course, it never works because the moment Kuroko opens the door wider and says as gently as possible, “Hello”, Kagami hears the loudest screech yet; and has the good fortune of seeing a boy, tanned and dark, running fast enough that his pants – probably oversized in the first place – slipped down low enough to send him tumbling into the ground – ass up in the air.

“Oh god,” he groans, covering his eyes with his hands, “please close that door before I’m scarred for life.”

It probably isn’t considered neglectful of him to take half-a-minute to nurse his brain before he goes and collect the disappointed mess that is Kuroko at the door.


	6. Assignment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Drabbles from KagaKuro Month 2014 that I didn't get to upload because I was way behind time. Prompts that were given for the occasion are as follows:  
> ✓ Week 1 (11-15.October): SEASONAL/AUTUMN + Field trip  
> ✓ Week 2 (16-20.October): AU + Family   
> ✓ Week 3 (21-25.October): 3rd POV/femslash + Fears/Expectations  
> ✓ Week 4 (26-30.October): Future + Silence/Noise  
> ✓ Week 5 (31.October-4.November): Free time/Hobbies + Halloween  
> ✓ Week 6 (5-9.November): Transformation/metamorphosis + Assignment

Tetsuya doesn’t sleep anymore these days. Sure, he dozes, catching whatever rest he can – outside the barracks, near the watchtowers, by the entrance of the medical camp – but he never  _sleeps_  anymore. It worries Kagami and Aomine, and everyone around the boy; Seijuurou and Shintarou have shared more than three sessions of discussion, on separate occasions, about their brother’s feebling health, giving each other eyes each time Tetsuya excuses himself early from their meals together.

Momoi has even resorted to slipping relaxant herbs into the little that he eats, just to give him the rest that he needs, but even those are only enough to put him down for an added hour or two.

Kagami wishes that he could do something about it – perhaps set his caduceus to the boy’s head and put him to sleep; but Tetsuya has made him promise, once, that he’d never raise the staff against his Family unless it’s absolutely necessary, and Kagami holds his promises very highly.

Gods aren’t all that different from humans in spite of their elevated status; if anything, they’re worse, with their oversized ego and all. Deception, treachery, unrestrained sex with anything and everything that moves – everything humans can do bad, gods do it worse. Kagami has had his share of those, when he was much younger and wilder, and so has Aomine; but he’d like to think that they’d both settled down since then.

But if there were one thing that gods are bound upon, it’s their promises. Once they’ve given their word, it stays with Time, and there’s no breaking it, no matter what. Seeing as how godhood transcends even Death, it’s easy to see why the gods are so careful with giving out their words. Kagami has seen the spirits of dead women, rotting and decomposing, determinedly crawl their way out of hell to exact past promises from Aomine, the promiscuous bastard that he was – and still is.

Kagami doesn’t regret giving his word to Tetsuya, and he understands why the boy had asked for it. It wasn’t that Tetsuya didn’t trust him – if anything, Kagami knows that Tetsuya trusts him with more than his life; they’ve been through enough in the fifteen years together for the god to know that. It is Kuroko’s gift to him, extracted not for Tetsuya’s sake, but for _Kagami’s_ , because the boy must have seen – intuited, because Tetsuya is awkwardly young and sensitive and perceptive – the eternal temptation that Kagami faces as the bearer of the caduceus.

_Poor Kagami-kun. Godhood… is really lonely, isn’t it?_ Just like that, Tetsuya had torn him bare, exposing the glory of divine sanctity for what it really is: isolation, despair, desolation –

Kagami cannot count the number of times when he had been sorely tempted to bring back a dead friend just to alleviate the emptiness that had grown throughout the eternity that he’s cursed to live with. He’d make friends with mortals, and then watch they’d go with the passage with Time – again and again – and Kagami sometimes wished he could just stay away, but he wasn’t Aomine.

He wasn’t Aomine who could watch but not care; be a god, but not a god at the same time – and Kagami sometimes curses himself for his weakness.

But every once in a while, when someone like Tetsuya strays into his path, and Kagami becomes a little happier, a little sadder – and that makes him hold the boy that bit tighter at night while he still can, before the promise can rob him of this temptation.

Except now it’s turned out to be a double-edged sword, and Tetsuya is suffering from it.

“You should just fuck the promise and do it anyway,” Aomine growls out softly into the night air, huddled and curled up on the other side of Tetsuya, grumpy in his concern. “Or I can do it. I don’t even need the caduceus. I’ll just get the nearest staff and knock him right out.”

Kagami chuckles tiredly at that, reaching down from this side of the boy to tuck the blanket closer around him. Once, he would have jumped at the bait to argue with Aomine, often squabbling just for the sake of squabbling. But Tetsuya has changed them a little, and so has the War and their involvement with the royal siblings, which is why all Kagami does now is to shrug and admit, “I wish I were you. Then things wouldn’t be so messy.”

He doesn’t say the obvious – that Aomine could’ve done it if he likes to talk big like that, and it would have saved them a heck lot of trouble and worry – but he doesn’t because he know that as Tetsuya’s other sworn guardian, Aomine is very respectful of Tetsuya’s well-being and need for boundaries. What he shares with Tetsuya isn’t like what Kagami has with the boy, but even so, they’re fond enough of each other for Aomine to want to protect Tetsuya in every way he can.

Aomine scoffs hollowly then. “Look at us. We’re the almighty gods, and yet we can’t even put one kid to proper rest.”

This time, Kagami laughs a genuine snicker, cutting a glance at his companions. “Yeah well, kinda late to say that now, isn’t it? Maybe we shouldn’t have contracted Tris all those years ago – he was _horrible_ to please – what made you think that his descendants will be any easier to deal with?”

The way Aomine’s face turns sour at that reminder raises the corners of Kagami’s lips, both exasperated and fond at the same time. “Bloody hell, don’t even talk about that bastard, I still have nightmares of him. All those never-ending questions about our divinity. I thought it’d be fun to lend my name to a human – leave an impression of myself amongst the worshippers – since everyone was doing it, but wow, look at the mess I got myself into. You and Tris. Then this idiot now.”

Kagami is restrained when he reaches over and whacks the other god across the forearm good-humouredly. “You got yourself into it, okay. And don’t forget that this idiot has you wrapped around his little finger.”

“Sure, world’s greatest insult,” Aomine gives him an unimpressed look, “except he has _you_ wrapped up around him at night, so who’s in a worse position?”, and then bursts out laughing at the red that has blotched over Kagami’s face. “Aw man, you’re so horribly easy.”

“Shut up, you bastard,” Kagami growls and looks away, not saying any more than that. It’s not like he was embarrassed about the nature of their bond, but neither Kagami nor Tetsuya are particularly comfortable with their relationship being alluded to like that. Sure, everyone knows about it – it’s like the biggest open secret in camp, as far as Kagami is concerned – but both their statuses accorded them the pretense of privacy and confidentiality.

But of course, some people (and gods) don’t give a rat’s ass about the whole thing, so awkward times aren’t really completely avoidable either.

“Aww, why so shy, Bakagami?” Aomine teases, lifting the mood a little more before it simmers down when Tetsuya heaves a heavy breath and shifts between them – thankfully still asleep. They fall quiet after that, less hollow, and more amiable now.

It’s Aomine who breaks the silence again after that, when the early rays of the sun start to lighten the sky and eclipse the twinkle of the sun. He glances down at Tetsuya and puts a fond finger to the boy’s cheek. “It’s strange, isn’t it?”

“What is?” Kagami asks, tilting his head up and closing his eyes with a deep breath, and then freezing when Aomine shrugs and says, “That he’s sleeping the most soundly right before the storm is about to break.”

It brings everything right back into perspective – and Kagami has to fight to banish the distress in him once again. “Don’t say it so pessimistically.”

Aomine scowls and opens his mouth to deny it, but –

“He’s not, Kagami-kun. Aomine-kun is just pointing out the situation as it is.” And Tetsuya sits up with a yawn, rubbing a fist against his eye. It’s saying a lot about how compliant and domestic the gods have become when they simultaneously began fussing over the boy’s horrible bedhead.

“I really should just shear your head off with my moon disc,” Aomine growls as he attempts to pat down a particularly stubborn cowlick.

“Please don’t. I like my hair very much,” Tetsuya answers meekly, letting his guardians fret as they wished before they all settle down with a peeved huff.

“Of course you do. Because it’s stubborn like you.”

“That is right.”

“Tetsu! You’re not supposed to go along so easily!”

“Is it time already?” Tetsuya asks abruptly, catching the fingers that had started catching him into a noogie, and then casting a speculative, faraway look out towards the rising sun. His face is pale and drawn, and the corners of his lips are pinched, but Aomine seems to be right – Tetsuya does seem to have rested better than usual. There is determination and clarity in his eyes, even as it’s rimmed by fatigue and weariness.

There is a moment of pause and breath before Kagami finally finds it in him to turn over and look at his charge in the eye.

“Yes.”

Tetsuya watches him a moment more before he catches both his and Aomine’s hands – both larger than his, rough and thick against his pale, slim fingers – and he hooks his little finger, awkward and clumsy, around theirs. “Make me a final promise before I leave.”

And Kagami bristles instantly, pulling his hand away to push against the boy’s lips, silencing him. “Don’t make it sound like you’re never coming back.”

But the truth, they all know, is that there is no telling what may happen. Tetsuya knows what he is getting into, and he is doing his best to prepare for it; but Kagami, even with his divine knowledge, is stubborn against accepting the knowledge.

“Don’t be stubborn, Kagami,” Aomine advises, voice uncharacteristically soft, fingers twitching within Tetsuya’s grasp. Kagami knows that the Egyptian god wants nothing more than to keep him here, stuff him into a basket, probably, and keep him hidden from the pains and realities of the War, but he’s doing a better job at acting maturely than Kagami is.

And it irritates Kagami because Aomine seems to have made up his mind – between giving Tetsuya his freedom and free will, and taking it away for the sake of keeping him safe – and has come out the better, bigger person.

…god.

Whatever.

Tetsuya doesn’t give him time to brood over it, reaching over calmly and grabbing his fingers again. “Kagami-kun. Promise me that you won’t come sneaking after me – that you’ll stay here, and help my brothers end this War.”

Kagami makes to pull away again, but this time, Tetsuya is adamant. “You have seen what I saw, and you know how I feel about this War. Help me end it. If this is how we can defeat the Uncrowned Kings, then I will do it. Kise-kun agrees that having an alchemist join him as a spy will be beneficial, and you know that it is true. There is no one other alchemist better than me in our lands, no one less noticeable than me, so I must carry out this responsibility as one of the Trismegistus descendants –”

“And that is why we should go with _you_ , not stay here with your already souped-up brothers who don’t need no protection –”

“I’m not the only Trismegistus descendant.” And there it is – the famed resolution of the Trismegistus Family, the stubborn, steady stare that gave way to no one. “Just because I’m weaker, sicklier than them doesn’t mean that I should hog you both to me and leave Seijuurou and Shintarou without protection. If you’ve sworn yourself to be our Family’s protector, then it’s time to do your job.”

The wind that blows after that is cold, and it roars in Kagami’s ears – because how far has he fallen. In that moment, he wishes that death was an available option for him, that he could just be done and over with with his divinity. He wants to choke on air and unspoken words then, but rasps out anyway, “Give us a while, Aomine. Please.”

He is grateful when Aomine doesn’t say much – just nods understandingly and kisses the crown of Tetsuya’s head, and steps away not too far away.

“Kagami-kun –”

Kagami drags the boy onto his lap wordlessly and forces him into desperate kisses that were sharper than loving. It pacifies him when Tetsuya lets him do it – lets him trail down to his neck and the corners of his shoulders to leave distinct marks. Even gods feel fear and anxiety – fallible and imperfect – and no one knows it better than the boy. Tetsuya only stops Kagami after he nearly bites through skin, dragging fingers through red hair to pull Kagami up.

“I love you, Kagami-kun. You don’t know how much I do,” Tetsuya whispers, snuggling his head into the crook of his neck, “And I’m afraid. Just as you are. I don’t want to go, I don’t want to die, I want to stay here and be yours. But Kagami-kun. There are people dying out there.

Our people.

If I can help in anyway, I want to. If alchemy can’t save their souls, then let me use it to save their lives.”

When Tetsuya looks up this time, Kagami knows that there is no way that he can refuse. Not when the boy climbs off, gets down on his knees, and whispers – earnest and heartfelt: “Help me do this, great Olympian god Hermes, son of Zeus, benefactor, guardian, and patron of our Family. Help me save this land – stop this War.”

And when Aomine comes back, it is to a boy’s departure and a god’s resignation. 


End file.
